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If we can enjoy ourselves with activities like personal fitness and "brain training" presented as games, why not take that same approach to managing our budgets or paying off debts? Ever since I saw Takara Tomy's RPG piggy bank, I've hoped that someone would bring something similar to the U.S., except scaled for adult use.

If having money in your bank account and building a nest egg aren't themselves goals that will motivate you to manage your savings, personal finance site Mint.com is testing a simple game-like feature called “Financial Fitness” with a private beta. The game encourages you to pick up points for completing monthly tasks such as avoiding bank fees and annual challenges like getting a high-yield savings account.

As you earn more points and improve your financial fitness rating, you can earn badges for achievements like keeping a 100% health status for an extended period of time. Also, you'll have the reward of having more money in your pocket or savings.

To develop this feature, Mint studied the reward systems of Wii Fit, World of Warcraft, and Nike Fit, according to a report from technology news site TechCrunch. While it's still a very simple implementation and not a full-fledged finance RPG (Dragon Quest X: Defenders of the Starry Savings For Retirement), perhaps Mint or someone else will expand on this idea in the future.